WIP in progress - Iron Warriors Warband - Dark Mechanicus

Sup guys, 

So here is my next update for models that are WIP.  They are almost done and I am happy with the result thus far.  These models are for my so called Dark Mechanicus army, an army that i started back in 6th edition comprised of as many daemon engines as possible.  I decided to build this after i saw the first warpsmith model and forgefiend models and yes even though they were really not great in game, i loved the models so much that i purchased 3 more and got the idea of doing an army of these.  Back in those days since we didnt have any specific legion rules, I decided to paint them in a paint scheme that I had started back in 5th for a small space wolves army.  Enter 6th edition with the introduction of more daemon engines which i fell in love with with their unique designs as well as the warpsmith model that I decided to start a chaos dark mechanicus army and used the same paint scheme since its something i had never seen before.  I used the army extensively in 6th and 7th and even won a tournament or too with it.  I'm proud to say that I have also won 2 painting competitions with it and I jokingly mused to one of my buddies that I can sell this army as a painting award winning...lol.  I was quite humbled by the experience to be honest as I didnt think the scheme was all that ground breaking but I will take it.  Below are the pics of my almost done Lord Discordant and done 4 obliterators.  

This pic was snapped during a recent game with them.  It was a fun 3 player game with one objective in the middle that was the only way you could score.  The game ended with the Sister's player taking it all but not before my Dark Mech took a huge toll on both his army and our Death Guard opponent.  

Here my Oblits and Forgefiend under the command of my Master of Possessions maintain a steady stream of fire on both my opponents.  I really love how the Master of Possessions buffs all daemon engine and daemon unit with her spells, she is now an auto take in all of my dark mech armies.  Let me know what you guys think.

The eve of battle...

Sup guys, so here I am in Austin Texas attending my first war games con.  Long ways from my native California but I couldnt pass up another opportunity to meet up with my team again and see an old friend.  I met up with the organizers of the 40k narrative event, said Hi and begged them to allow me to register so as I could get some more sleep which they okayed (whew).  The flight was pretty uneventful and marks the first time that I have flown to an actual 40k event.  The event promises to be full of surprises and fun which is all I want in an event of this size.  I kind of wish we were allowed to take at least an 1850 list but we were limited to just 1500 points which for my army limits my choices some what.  I do love playing at 1500 points though and I won't be the only one that will be limited.  It appears our enemies for this run will be a group of space marines with an allied Tau force.  I have a lot of experience playing against both so hopefully that will help me with my games tomorrow.  Tau in smaller point games can be downright deadly as they can bring a lot of killy power compared to most other armies.  This is what I will be looking out for tomorrow as Tau can make us all have a bad day.  I was able to sneak a peak at the tables and they look amazing.  I can wait for our games to begin and hopefully we can be 3-0 after this con.  Next up will be the LVO and for me I will be dusting off an old army of mine, one that slowly but surely I have been adding to them and re-basing them.  One that by tomorrow, I will have their primarch in hand thanks to my friend. Ave Dominus Nox....

Been a while...

Hello everybody, it's been a very long time since my last post.  I could say that life has got in the way, work, etc which in a way is true but really when I started this painting blog I wanted to make a commitment of doing an article at least once a week.  I am going to try again as by writing I am able to keep myself inspired to paint and to bounce ideas, to keep track of my projects and have a way to better store my ideas.  In a little over a week, I once again will be joining my team, the hounds of abbadon for another trek through narrative 40k at wargames con.  Again I am busting out my Dark Mech CSM list but this time I added in 2 units of CSM in rhinos and a termicide unit with combi-meltas.   For the first time I will be taking a CSM formation, the daemon engine pack to finally see if slugging out 8 strength 8 shots at BS 5 will be worth it.  This formation is right up my armies alley as it allows me to really bring the engines without limiting my army to much with regards to heavy support choices.  Since we are limited to 1500 at wargames con, I had to sacrifice my knight as the group has decided to ban super heavy vehicles unless your primary army was made of just knights.  This sucks but I can see the reason.  The list I am taking is pretty straight forward -

Daemon Engine Pack -
Warpsmith
Forge fiend with dual hades autocannons
Maulerfiend with Lasher Tendrils

Crimson Slaughter CAD

Sorcerer of nurgle with palaquin  (Arch Magos)
2 CSM squads in Rhinos
Heldrake with baleflamer
Termicide squad with combi meltas
3 man squad of Obliterators of Nurgle
Maulerfiend with Lasher Tendrils

The list is pretty similar to what I take normally with the addition of CSM squads instead of useless cultists and a Termicide squad which I nicknamed the Forge guard as I heavily modified the unit to make them look more Dark Mechanicus like.  I was thinking of maybe taking the chosen of Abaddon formation to take the full unit of terminators with a sorcerer lord attached.  By doing this however I would need to drop the daemon engine pack which right now with our 1500 limit would limit my army's shooting power.  I still got a couple of days to think about this as adding more warp charges sounds really appealing.  I'm sure no matter what I decide to take, I will have a fun time with the guys.  For the glory of Chaos!!!

the road to the LVO 2016....

Sup guys,
Again, true life has gotten in the way of my hobby.  Work has been absolutely killing me since mid-November and of course a little game called Fallout 4 was released around the same time.  I have had to focus a little bit on my hobby which of course painting is taking center stage.  I have little time to get actual games in which worries me as the LVO is rapidly approaching and I need to get some practice in.  I have been able to go to the local GW a couple of times as my club has been on holiday from playing 40K lately which has helped.  The guys at the GW store are great players and I have seen first hand the power of forgeworld units and unrestricted 40K.  For all of those people stating that the new Tau are not 1st tier, sorry to disappoint you but they are.  I played several games against them, 1 player using 2 storm surges and 1 player using what I would call a fluffy list but using the Hunter Contingent detachment and both were tough games.  The game against the 2 storm surges I tied with my dark mech by not making any big mistakes.  The game would have been mine if it wasnt for the 2 storm surges.  I had nothing in my list to take those out short of mass assaults with Maulerfiends or long range lascanon shots with my oblits.  The game against the Tau Hunter Contingent wasnt even a game, I tried out my Khorne Daemonkin army against it with some minor changes and by the end of the 2nd turn, I was done to 2 units.  This list was super surprising as my opponent's list focused on tau firewarrior shooting.  I mean the guy only had like 4 suits, 2 crisis suits, 1 riptide (you heard me 1!!!), and a ghost keel.  This list I sorely underestimated and it showed with how badly I did. I talked to my opponent after and he shared his thoughts on the list which opened up a lot to how I might change my Tau army going forward. 

So after all that, lets talk about this post, the preparation for LVO 2016.  As stated in an earlier post this year, I have already picked up my tickets for the LVO's narrative game.  This event will kickoff with an awesome cocktail hour killteam and will continue with 3 days of narrative gaming.  So what am I bringing you might ask, I'm sticking with my dark mechanicus themed chaos space marine army, pretty much keeping the same list that I brought to the last LVO however I am adding in an additional Maulerfiend, a new mechanicus themed Oblit squad, and a new Chaos Knight.  During the last LVO, we were allowed come the apocolypse allies and so I took an imperial knight that I put together 2 weeks before the event.  The knight pretty much played as his own man as I couldnt cast any support powers on him or interact with him with my other units however he was definitely an allstar, tying me the final game against an eldar army that was really blowing me out of the water.  With the changes by the LVO vote to allow forgeworld experimental rules in, chaos knights are now allowed and thus I can finally bring a knight that is actually a lord of war for my army.  Once forge world released the Ceratus Knight Atropo, I couldnt resist and pulled the trigger and ordered one as this knight really captures that "Dark Mechanicus" theme that I was looking for.  The kit is quite extraordinary, it goes together quite well but there is a lot of "pre-work" that needs to be done in order to get it ready for it to be built.  Flash and mold release was all over the pieces, some pieces worse than other but nothing really ridiculous.  By taking the time to prepare the model, you shouldnt have any issues with it.  Once I got it cleaned and flash free, the model took me about 4 sessions to put together as I decided to also magnetize 3 parts of the model, the 2 gun ports/arms and the torso to make it easier to travel with and offer some more pose-ability.  All I need now is to get some primer on it and then the painting process can begin.  My dark Mech themed obliterator squad I finished around November and have already seen table action.  Basically I ordered a squad of mechcanicum Mirmodons as they would fit the style of army I have and go hand in hand with my Arch Magos.   These models were fun to put together the only challenging piece were the bending of their external cables using hot water.  The pic above is of my army for this year's event.  I am hoping like last year, it will cause some surprises as my list is very heavy in daemon engines.

Games Workshop and why I love you so...

Sup guys.. Right on the heels of my last post regarding Khorne Daemonkin, I wanted to go ahead and start talking about something else that I believe Games Workshop is doing right.  After many years and wishes, GW has finally graced us with the presence of an actual adeptus mechanicus army complete with multiple codexes and several different kits that not only look awesome but actually fit the motif for mechanicus.  About a year ago, several internet celebs actually spoke about GW bringing out several mini armies complete with their own codexes and mini's.  When I first heard of this I thought that this was more wish listing but now after seeing Harliquins first, Skittarri and now Mechanicus cult, we are seeing that these rumors are actually coming true.  As you guys know, I am a huge mechanicus fan and these new kits and rules are a dream come true.  Yes I prefer a Dark bent to my mechanicum forces as evident by my "dark mechanicus" themed army but now we actually have rules and kits to actually play mechanicum forces.  Everything that has come out thus far have been amazing except for the old school robots which I am still deciding on if I like them or not.  With Skitarri we got the common mech foot soldier with the vanguard and ranger kits, a "stalker" tank, and some elite units that fit the theme so well that they seem as if they were always part of the 40K "model" universe.  This week we see the release of the cult mechanicus which included more troop choices, some more melee units with the electro-priests, and finally an HQ unit with the Dominus.  Of all of the new models I have to admit that my favorites are the Stygian walkers, the rangers, and the new Dominus.  The Dominus just reeks mechanicus with his many limbs, power ax, and servo skulls attached to him.  I am definitely going to be picking him up as soon as I can, paint him up in my dark mechanicus colors and have him join my arch magos in my dark mech army as either another warpsmith or sorcerer.  With the great rules and models however I do have some complaints.  My number one as you have probably guessed is what happened to the chaos love with these new units?  We all know that the dark mechancius exists and GW should have allowed chaos players to take any of these mechanicus models as battle brothers or at least as allies of convenience.  A new army list that allows you to take daemon engines as heavy support along with a dominus or warpsmith as your HQ would have been amazing.  For now all of us chaos players can do is to take them as count as and try to fit them in our armies after we have chaosified them a bit.  My second complaint is whats the deal with bringing out 2 books for these releases?  All of these units could have been put into the same book thus eliminating the need to have to wait for each book to come out or forcing us to have to carry 2 books every time we decide to play the army, of course the big compliant is more of a money one as even though these books are cheaper than full sized codexes, your still shelling out almost 70 bucks to just start playing the army.

I do have hope in forgeworld though, last week at their open day event we saw a chaos knight shown.  It appears to be an upgrade kit to the standard GW knight kit like their Magera kit that came out a couple of months ago.  From the early pictures, the kit looks pretty detailed and will look great in any chaos army.  Of course their are many out there that converted our knights to have a more chaos feel to them and with this release means is that we will finally get rules for chaos knights.  I am really hoping we dont have to wait for an imperial armor book for these rules however and they release the rules as a free download similar to what they have done with several of their kits.  

In the world of 30K, I am awaiting the arrival of the Dark Mechanicus.  They have already graced us with a Dark Mechanicus character kit which I absolutately love built and painted for my dark mech army but what I am really waiting for is models for the rank and file.  Dark Mech troops, possessed Thanators, etc as well as the rules to use any of the daemon engines that we have models for already such as maulerfiends, forgefiends, etc.  As I stated earlier, GW we would be happy with you just allowing all new mechancius units to be taken in Chaos armies as battle brothers.  This would go a long way to rejuevenate chaos for a lot of players and make people like me extremely happy.

My LVO Experience

Hey guys, what's up? Well I just got back from the 2nd annual Las Vegas Open and all I could say is it was awesome!!  The 2nd Las Vegas Open was promised to be bigger, it was.  It was promised to have more variety, and it did!!  This year, the Con changed venue to the Flamingo Hilton in order to accommodate a much bigger turn out.  The 40K championships, the flagship event drew 256 players making it the biggest 40K event in the country.  As I stated in an earlier post, I decided to do something different this year, the 40K championship was great last year however I wanted to try out the friendly as I am after all a fluff nut.
The friendly was an easy going 4 round tourney where players were encouraged to bring out the very best in sportsmanship, painting, and themed armies.  I went in expecting to have a good time and boy did I ever.  I played 4 great opponents with beautiful armies and great attitudes making each round a pleasure to play.  Gone was the stress of playing in a no holds barred tournament with crazy combinations and people getting upset over anything, in was playing 40K the way it's supposed to be experienced, laid back with a lot of laughs, no stress, but still playing to win and with alcohol.  Priority was placed on the experience itself, of playing a game with your buddy and making sure that both of you are having the best time possible.   Now don't get me wrong, I do like competitive 40K and will probably go back to playing in regular tournaments however this experience is why I love playing 40K, to be able to tell a story that both players enjoy.  The timing of the games was another plus, starting at 11am and ending at 7pm which gave you ample time to enjoy Vegas with your significant other (which my wife loved).   The relax attitude of the TOs was also great as well as beautiful beer girls selling us adult beverages and in some cases outstanding deals with the purchase of a beer was wonderful (I ended up getting a starter box for Drop Zone Commander for buying 2 beers!!).  The only negative that I will report is that I wish players were matched up just like a normal tourney instead of shaking the hand of a player you have never played and playing him.  Also I wished they had 2nd and 3rd place prizes to go along with best general.  The tourney also mentioned teams of players based on factions such as imperial vs. Chaos which was never a factor in the tourney.  This would have added a lot as it would have made the games we play tell a story with multiple arcs based on the winners and losers.  Other than these minor quibs, the tourney was a blast and something I will gladly come back next year to play in.



After all of that how did I do?  Well I actually did surprisingly.  I took a list that was more theme then substance however also packed a wallop if you were not prepared for it.  It was extremely skewed in that it contained nothing but armor and only 1 unit that contained wounds.  This definitely surprised a lot of my opponents who was looking at people taking lots of infantry and some of my opponents actually prepared for it.  In the end I went 3-0-1, undefeated and tied my 4th game where a win would have guaranteed me winning or at least tying the event.  All in all a very good outing for the Dark Mechanicus and a very well run Con/Tourney by Frontline Gaming.  Well done Gentlemen and here's to more successful events for you guys.

An A+

The LVO and me

Sup guys.. Well the time has come for the LVO once again.  The LVO last year was my first major tournament and I had a blast.  Not only did it run smoothly but the timing of the events was almost perfect.  The fact that most of my games started at noon meant that I could party the night before and get some time to sleep in.  It also helped that I stayed in the same hotel that the event was run at so I didnt have to huff it to the event from a different hotel carrying my army with me.  For this year I decided that I wanted to do something different.  I wanted to go ahead and try my hand at playing the team tourney but alas I received confirmation from Reece himself that there wasn't going to be one this time around which is a bummer.   In keeping with me wanting to do something different, I decided to sign up for the 40k friendly event.  The 40k friendly is a 2000 point relaxed environment tourney where they are allowing unlimited CADS and unbound armies to allow players to build great themed armies.  Of course all lists need to be vetted ahead of time to keep the armies somewhat balanced and fun for all.  The format sounds pretty interesting if you ask me and plays to the fluff bunny in me that loves creating themed lists.  For this I am thinking of bringing the full might of the dark mechanicum complete with 2 Magos (chaos sorcerers), a warpsmith to do on site repairs, and as many daemon engines as possible.  Since the list format could be unbound, I am thinking of taking one of the hell brute formations as well.  I am still trying to finalize the list but below is something of an idea that I am thinking about. 

+++ New Dark Mech Unbound LVO list v.2 with Imp Knight (1998pts) +++

++ Chaos Space Marines: Supplement - Crimson Slaughter (2014) (Unbound Army (Faction)) (1323pts) ++

+ No Battle Role (HQ)+

Sorcerer 2x Additional Mastery Level, Daemonheart, Mark of Nurgle, Melta bombs, Palanquin of Nurgle, Sigil of corruption
····Rules: Champion of Chaos, Independent Character, Psyker
····Power Armour [Bolt Pistol, Force Weapon]
····Profiles:
········Sorcerer: Unit Type:Infantry (Character)|WS:5|BS:4|S:4|T:4|W:2|I:4|A:2|Ld:10|Save:3+
········Daemonheart: Description:May not be taken by a Daemon Prince. Daemonheart confers a 2+ Armour Save and the It Will Not Die special rule.

Sorcerer [2x Additional Mastery Level, The Balestar of Mannon]
····Rules: Champion of Chaos, Independent Character, Psyker
····Power Armour [Bolt Pistol, Force Weapon]
····Profiles:
········Sorcerer: Unit Type:Infantry (Character)|WS:5|BS:4|S:4|T:4|W:2|I:4|A:2|Ld:10|Save:3+
········The Balestar of Mannon: Description:Chaos Sorcerer only. The bearer of the Balestar of Mannon can choose to generate powers from the Divination discipline, and re-rolls failed Psychic tests. However, neither he nor any unit he has joined can benefit from any modifiers to Deny the Witch rolls for the bearer being a Psyker.

Warpsmith [Bolt Pistol, Gift of mutation, Power Axe]
····Rules: Champion of Chaos, Independent Character, Master of Mechanisms, Shatter Defences
····Profiles:
········Warpsmith: Unit Type:Infantry|WS:4|BS:5|S:4|T:4|W:2|I:4|A:2|Ld:10|Save:2+

+ No Battle Role (Fast Attack)

Heldrake [Baleflamer]
····Rules: Daemon, Daemonforge, It Will Not Die, Meteroric Descent
····Profiles:
········Heldrake: BS:3|Front:12|Side:12|Rear:10|HP:3|Type:Vehicle (Flyer, Hover)
········Daemonic possession: Description:

+ No Battle Role (Heavy Support) +

Forgefiend [Hades Autocannon]
····Rules: Daemon, Daemonforge, Fleet, It Will Not Die
····Profiles:
········Forgefiend: WS:3|BS:3|S:6|Front:12|Side:12|Rear:10|I:3|A:2|HP:3|Type:
········Daemonic possession: Description:

Maulerfiend [Lasher tendrils]
····Rules: Daemon, Daemonforge, Fleet, It Will Not Die, Move Through Cover, Siege Crawler
····Profiles:
········Maulerfiend: WS:3|BS:3|S:6|Front:12|Side:12|Rear:10|I:3|A:2|HP:3|Type:
········Daemonic possession: Description:

Maulerfiend[Lasher tendrils]
····Rules: Daemon, Daemonforge, Fleet, It Will Not Die, Move Through Cover, Siege Crawler
····Profiles:
········Maulerfiend: WS:3|BS:3|S:6|Front:12|Side:12|Rear:10|I:3|A:2|HP:3|Type:
········Daemonic possession: Description:

Obliterators[Mark of Nurgle, 3x Obliterator]
····Rules: Bulky, Daemon, Deep Strike, Obliterator Weapons, Slow and Purposeful
····Profiles:
········Obliterator: Unit Type:Infantry|WS:4|BS:4|S:4|T:4|W:2|I:4|A:2|Ld:8|Save:2+

++ Imperial Knights: Codex (2014) (Formation Detachment)

········Knight Paladin: WS:4|BS:4|S:10|Front:13|Side:12|Rear:12|I:4|A:3|HP:6|Type:Vehicle (Super-heavy Walker)
········Ion Shield: Description:Grants a 4+ Invulnerable Save against all shooting hits from one facing (chosen at the start of the opponent's shooting phase).
········Heavy Stubber: Range:36"|Strength:4|AP:6|Type:Heavy 3
········Rapid-Fire Battle Cannon: Range:72"|Strength:8|AP:3|Type:Ordnance 2, Large Blast
········Reaper Chainsword: Range:-|Strength:D|AP:2|Type:Melee

+ Formation

Formation: Mayhem Pack
····Rules: It Will Not Die, Mayhem from the Maelstrom, Tormented Terrors
····Helbrute [Multi-melta, Power fist]
········Rules: Crazed
····Helbrute [Multi-melta, Power fist]
········Rules: Crazed
····Helbrute [Multi-melta, Power fist]

Let me know what you guys think.  I'm sure I won't be winning the event but at least I will have a lot of fun which is the spirit of this event.  

Dark Mechanicus test drive

A couple of weeks ago, I finally got the chance to test drive my dark mechanicus army.  I didnt have time to test the list in normal games so actually took the list untested to the local GW's final 40k tournament before it closed its doors as a battle bunker.  The tournament was 1500 points, modified book missions and it was 3 games long.  I would certainly get a feel of the list playing it against 3 different armies.  In terms of the list I took the 1500 pts list I posted in my last post which contained a warpsmith, 3 CSM squads with extra close combat weapons; one with plasma and autocannon, 2 with melta gun and plasma, 2 Heldrakes with baleflamers an Oblit squad and a forgefiend.

Game 1 vs. Tyranids - Without a doubt the coolest guy I played at the Tourney, here was a guy who just made the game fun to play.  His list was what I would call an elite nid list with a flying hive tyrant, a tyrant on foot, big warrior squad, a tyranofex, a Zoai, trygon, and 2 squads of 15 guants.  My army obliterated the nids with knocking the hive tyrant out of the air and killing it by turn 2, my forgefiend killing his 6 man squad of warriors in one salvo.. ok I got lucky with my rolling, and the 2 heldrakes just flying around and killing stuff.  The made mince meat of the trygon that popped up with vector strikes and killing off his 2 troop choices that were left.  By the top of 4, my opponent and I called it.  I tell you what, this guy took it in the teeth and still had a great time.  I dont know how I would have felt with my big HQ dying by turn 2 without feeling like crap.  My army proved to me that it was shooty in this first game with MVPs going to the Warpsmith and his squad behind the ageis and the Forgefiend.

Game 2 vs. Orks - Was this game ever tough, my opponent was running an extremely different ork list, one that I have never seen before.  His army was what I call a killa can list made up of 2 mega deff dreads, 9 killa cans, and 3 deff dreads.  His only unit of infantry came in the form of a 10 man boyz squad in a truck that he hid on his home objective.  We drew vanguard strike and emperors will as the primary mission and I would like to say that my generalship won me the game but truth be told, my dice were on fire.  My heldrakes were the scourge of the battlefield, vector striking, and flaming cans and deff dreads down.  The daemonforge ability helped quite a lot in this battle giving me the ability to re roll damage pens rolls against the Killa Cans and deff dreads and really helped with damaging my opponents ability to move as I concentrated on killing the models in front of his battle line thus forcing him to have to go around or roll dangerous terrain.  Placing the heldrakes in front of the dreads also helped in this as he had to move around them and needed to keep at least 1 inch away from their bases.  By Turn 4, I knew that the game was mine as he only had 2 cans left, 1 deff dread, and 1 mega deff dread that was immobilized and not going anywhere.  One of my Heldrakes had taken out his 1 scoring infantry unit and I had gotten first blood and kill the warlord.  We called it by the bottom of turn 5 as there was no way he could win or tie the game.  MVP's of this game was again the forgefiend, my HQ "Havoc" squad unit, and of course the Heldrakes.

Game 3 vs. Chaos Daemons - By the time the 3rd game around, I was 2-0 and on one of the top tables.  Up until this time, I didnt think my list had legs especially in a tourney setting. My opponent this time around was running one of the most hated netlists of all time. This game of course took place before the new daemon codex had come out so of course the guy was running fateweaver, 3 squads of flamers, 4 small squads of horrors, and 2 max squads of screamers. I deployed as best I could knowing that I had one turn to kill as many of his units as possible and then hope for the best. I concentrated all my forces in a corner giving him few avenues where he could deepstrike safely. I lucked out that he didnt get his preferred wave but due to a huge line of sight blocking terrain piece, he very wisely hid this 4 - 5 man horror squads behind it. I was able to kill 1 squad and mauled another one but that was all I could do before hell broke lose. Next turn he got all of his units in and with it my chance of winning the game. I did my best at holding him off until my dragons came on and was able to actually hold my own when both came on. MVPs of this game were believe it or not a squad of CSM's that wiped out a squad of flamers and put the hurt on a squad of screamers before dying. My forge fiend got to fire once before his other squad of screamers took him down. The game went on to about turn 4 before I decided to call it to save myself from tabling as all I had was 1 dragon left. He did pay me a compliment that I was able to kill the most of his units in all 3 of his games so I will take that as a morale victory. Hard, hard game but glad I wont be facing that list anymore as the new Daemon codex is out. All in all a great first outing for the dark mechanicus. The army is a blast to play and looks quite striking on the table top. I plan on adding in the maulerfiend and a helbrute to give me even more daemon engines. The pics in this post are of my maulerfiend and the warpsmith. Let me know what you think.  

Work in progress

Hey guys, I wanted to talk about my latest project that I am currently knee deep in.  As your average 40k hobbiest, I have ADD when it comes to projects.  I might get inspired to do a certain build and then a week later have something else inspire me and go off on another tangent.  Many things inspire me to "go off" on from listening to the latest podcast, to reading an article, to bouncing off ideas to my poor wife as she is trying to catch up on her shows, inspiration can come from anywhere.  My latest scheme involves adding a dark mechanicus wing to my Dark Wolves army with a warpsmith, a couple of heldrakes, and either a forge fiend or maulerfiend.

  This past christmas was good to me and I ended up with a good start for the army so I needed to just add a Mauler fiend.  My list involves running a warpsmith as my HQ, running 3 CSM squads, 2 Heldrakes, a ForgeFiend, Mauler Fiend, and squad of Oblits.  I know that on face value the list doesnt appear competitive which is not the point, I just love the models and the theme of running just a lot of daemon engines.  The Heldrake on its own is just too good, arguably one of the best models in the game (rules wise).  Having 2 in the list makes it so at least I have a shot at winning games.  And then we come to the forgefiend.  I dont know about you but a model with 8 strength 8 shots just screams awesome to me.  I know that the model is is over costed but the number of shots the model puts out makes it worth to me.  Joining the forgefiend in the heavy support is a squad of 3 oblits.  Oblits might have taken a hit with the loss of fearless but the fact that they can now take marks makes them a lot more survival able then ever.

Over the course of the last couple of months, I have been able to put together the models and actually put paint to brush.  I have completed painting the Warpsmith, the forgefiend, and both Heldrakes.  I also painted up an ageis defense line with a quad gun in order to give me some anti air.  As it stands, the list contains the following at 1500 points-

HQ- Warpsmith
Aura of Dark Glory
Gift of Mutation

(2 units of )Troops- CSM Squad (10)
1x Melta gun
1x Plasma gun
Aspa Champ with Power Sword
Unit has extra CCW

Troops- CSM Squad (10)
1x Plasma gun
1x Autocannon
Aspa Champ with Power Axe
Unit has extra CCW

(2 units) Fast- Heldrake with Baleflamer

Heavy Support- Obliterator squad (2)
Mark of Nurgle

Heavy Support- Forgefiend
Twin Hades Autocannons

Fortification - Ageis defense line with Quad gun

The concept of the list is simple.  The Warpsmith joins the CSM squad with the autocannon behind the aegis manning the quad gun.  This unit effectively becomes a havoc squad armed with 3 autocannons and with the ability to skyfire and interceptor, makes them a threat to all light armor, aircraft and troops.   I keep the forgefiend next to him to add his firepower to the unit.  The other 2 units i use to capture objectives or take a defensive posture in kill points as mark of khorne makes them great in defense (which is very ironic...).  The dragons clear the field after the oblits or the autocannons pop the transports.  I might want to add a big squad of cultists and a Dark Apostle as well to get me up to 1750.  With the new Daemon codex coming out, I might want to add in some daemonic allies to give my opponents a threat in their back field.  Next week I plan on taking the list to our local GW's last 40K tournament before they close.  I am hoping the list does pretty good but we shall see..